Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction
by xxflychica88xx
Summary: A strong eccentric story about two unlikely lovers entangled with each other through a world of drama, sex, violence and drugs. Jay/Ellie And also many other pairings.
1. Chapter 1

This is a story about two unsuspecting lovers and other ones engaged in a world of drama, sex, drugs and violence. This is the Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own the degrassi characters but I own the ones I made up :-)

Do you Ever

Janurary 9, 2018

Jay placed the card inside the envelope and handed it to the clerk behind the counter. He walked toward the door of the flower shop, thinking about what he'd written. He hoped Ellie would accept the flowers from him and be happier. But more important, he hoped she would be happy to hear from him. After all, so much time had passed, and yet sometimes the pain of their split still felt like a fresh cut. He walked out of the store and toward his Denali parked at the curb. Now all he could do was wait and see if time really did heal wounds. Jay thought about something his mother had often told him over the years. She said that whatever you claimed to be in life, you'd be tested at. He had always thought that he know what she meant. God knows he'd been put to the test in his life. Most times, Jay had passed those tests. But when the time came for him to be tested at love, it was a different story. That was one test that Jay wasn't so sure he'd passed.

Ellie opened the door and saw a delivery-man standing there smiling. In his hands he held a huge flower arrangement. "Eleanor Nash?" he asked. Ellie did not return his smile but nodded, confirming her identity, and sighed for the arrangement. "Thank you." she said, in a soft voice. The delivery-man headed back toward the van parked at the curb, Ellie had been accepting flowers for the past two days, all condolences for her mother's death. Most of the flowers had been sent over by members of her mother's small Methodist church congregation, who had become the dead woman's extended family for the past several years. For years Ellie's relationship with her mother had been nonexistent. And then when one did exist, it had been complex. For years Ellie had never seen her mother in charge or in control of her own life, or theirs, when Ellie and sister, Chanel had been kids. It had always seemed like they had been responsible for finding their own way in life, responsible for learning all their lessons on their own. The hard way.

But then Edna Nash finally came out of the shadows, and had claimed her place at the head of her family. She had fought the toughest battles and found solace in the only comforter she ever needed. The cancer claimed Edna Nash's life. It was a sad time for Ellie, compounded by the fact she'd spent so much time consumed with the fruitless pursuit of happiness in the gutter of drug addiction. Prior to her death, Edna had begun to pick up the pieces of her shattered relationship with Ellie. She had watched Ellie come back from the darkside, and seen that she had gotten her life together, that she regained custody of her son. But there had been some unfinished business between the two of them. Things they still had yet to conquer together, And now it was too late.

Edna's passing made Ellie think about so many things she had not allowed herself to remember for so long. She could still hear her mother's terrified voice, tstill feel the fear that surged through her every time she watched her mother beaten by Jeff. Ellie remember the terror etched on her mother's face as she curled in on herself to block her husband's drunken blows. Ellie remember how she used to try and cover her little sister's eyes and ears, to block out the horror they were forced to witness. Ellie had resented her mother for not being stronger. She had wanted Edna to fight back. It was no wonder that a woman who had never been able to fight back her own defense had been unable to fight for her children's survival. Realizing that she was still standing in the open doorway of her home, Ellie shut the door and placed the new flowers on the only available space on the table in the foyer. She removed the card that accompanied the latest delivery, and walked into her cozy living room. She sat down on the sofa and tucked her feet snugly underneath her. Opening the card, she read its message:

**I'm sure that losing your mom has put an emotional toll on you right now. I know what it feels like to lose a parent. I just want you to know that even though we haven't spoken in a while, I'm here for you if you need me. Believe it or not, I still think about you all the time. There is a place in my heart that is always for you. I'm very sorry for your loss. Call me if you want to talk. (647-555-1992**

**Love, Jay**

Ellie's heart immediately stopped. She couldn't believe what she had just read. The red head continued to read the words _Love, Jay_ over and over again to make sure what she read was real. Even without the signature, she would have recognized the handwriting, and the familiarity which caused a shiver to travel down her spine. Ellie laid her head back against the sofa, her back flush against the mountain of pillows. Her eyes were fixed on the smooth surface of the ceiling, and on the prisms of light reflectioing through the partially open Venetian blinds, her thoughts far away. Some place long ago and bittersweet.


	2. Get the Job Done

The first few chapters are going to explain how each of them grew up. This first one will be about Jay.

JAY

1995

Jason Hogart stood proudly, watching his father work the crowd. They were in a shopping plaza, standing outside of The Dot, and Leo was chatting animatedly with a group of his cronies. They laughed and talked about the Toronto Maple Leafs game that had been on TV the night before. Jay watched his dad, soaking up his aura and marveling at how easily he stole the spotlight whenever he stepped onto the scene. At eight years old, Jay was like a sponge. He soaked up everything around him, particularly the words and actions of his father and his friends.

The thing that made Jay the proudest was the fact that he had the coolest father in the world. Leo Hogart was a living legend in the community. Everywhere he went people respected him, some almost bowed to him. Ladies loved him, men admired him. He was quite the charmer with his strong charisma. Whenever he walked into a room, it was all eyes on him. Leo's role in the life of his son had not been a traditional one. Leo had been arrested for manslaughter when Jay was only two years old, and had served fives years for that crime. He got to know his youngest son through occasional visitation up north, and through the updates his wife, Ingrid Hogart, gave him.

He was released when Jay was seven years old. Leo was in and out. He was here and there. But when he finally came home everything was alright. For Jay, every day was sunshine now that Dad was home. Jay saw a familiar man walking swiftly in their direction. He recognized the man's face but didn't know his name. He was walking very fast, and his face was set in a frown. His eyes were focused on Leo.

"Dad." Jay tugged at Leo's shirt. "Here comes your friend."

Leo looked in the direction his son was pointing at, and he shook his head. "This bastard isn't worth shit," he said. He looked at the man as he approached, and greeted him halfheartedly. "What's up Nick?"

"Don't give me this 'what's up?' bullshit! Where the fuck is my money? I don't have time for your games." The man was fuming. He was taller than Leo, and heavier, But Leo didn't seem at all intimidated.

Leo smiled at the menacing man. "Fuck you," Leo said, puffing on his cigar as he tilted his fedora hat forward. "I brought that money by your house last night. You weren't home, so I was going to give the moolah to your wife. But after I got finished fucking her, she said it was so good that _she _should have been paying _me._

Leo's audience laughed at angry Nick, and Jay watched in awe to see what would happen next. To his amazement, his father went right back to talking to his guys, as if Nick wasn't even there. Furious, Nick pulled out a gun, and everybody scattered. He started firing at Leo, aiming for his face. Using his arms to block his face, Leo ducked and tried to ward off the gunshots. The first bullet hit him in the forearm as he fell to the ground. Jay stood frozen in fear, crying loudly. Leo tried desperately to wriggle out of harm's way. But the shooter continued to fire, hitting Leo several times.

Mayhem erupted as the shopping plaza exploded in screams and chaos. Leo tried to go for his gun, which was on his ankle. But the shooter was still firing, and Leo was badly injured. Jay watched his father and was disturbed by the obvious pain that he was in. Leo was like a giant to his son, and seeing him sprawled on the ground, with his face twisted in agony, was difficult for Jay to witness. He stood there crying as he watched his father cringe in pain. He quickly ran to his side.

"Don't hurt my daddy!" Jay cried. Nick stood there with his skin red as a beet, as he held the gun in his right hand shaking vigorously. He finally ran off in the opposite direction from which he'd come from.

"Dad!" he shouted. "Daddy are you okay?" Jay's tear-streaked face was all that Leo could focus on as he drifted in and out of consciousness. The madness that followed seemed to swallow Jay right up. All of Leo's men came out of their hiding places, and began to talk to him, trying to keep him lucid and alert. Someone called 911 from a nearby pay phone. All the while, Jay clung to his father for dear life and prayed that he wouldn't die. After close to twenty minutes, an ambulance finally came, followed by several police cars.

Cops swarmed the plaza as the paramedics tended to Leo down on the pavement. Jay stood off in the corner, scared to death that his father would die. Leo struggled to remain conscious as they loaded him into the ambulance. He was rushed to the nearby hospital while Ingrid hurried to the scene in order to get Jay. She arrived to find the police questioning her son about the shooting.

"Son, you have to try to remember more details. Do you remember the man's name? Was he a friend of your father's?" One officer grilled Jay.

"Excuse me, he's not answering any more of your questions," Ingrid interrupted, taking her son by the hand and hugging him close to her body. "He doesn't remember and that's that."

"Ma'am, we're trying to find the culprit here. If we could just--"

"Good luck. Now I'd appreciate it if you leave us alone, so I can get to the hospital where my husband is being held." Ingrid stood calmly, and patted Jay on his back reassuringly. But inwardly she was agonizing, wondering if this time Leo really might not make it. All the accounts she'd gotten from his men had sounded grim. She knew that her husband had been shot at close range and that Jay witnessed it all. She knew that Nick was responsible. But she also knew that if Leo survived, he wouldn't want the cops to do his dirty work. Leo would have to handle Nick all by himself.

The officer reluctantly allowed Ingrid to leave, handing her his card and instructing her to call him if her son remembered anything. She lied and told him that she would, and then took her baby boy and headed toward her car. Once inside she hugged and kissed her traumatized child who was still crying from the trauma of what he'd witnessed. Ingrid tried her best to assure him that his father was tough and that he would survive. Was this going to be the end?


End file.
